Chapter 2 - New sub-faction

Inside the heavily armored sanctum of the GDI High Council, the air was thick with the hum of holo-displays and the scent of expensive synth-coffee. On the primary screen, a recording of Edward's New Variant Titan performed a perfect tactical maneuver, its blue laser cannon shearing through a reinforced target with terrifying precision.

He's done it again. Another 'unauthorized' miracle. This man is going to give our accounting department a collective stroke.

It's not just the walkers. The laser capacitors he's integrated... they're blue-spectrum, high-efficiency, and significantly cheaper than our railgun arrays. It's a logistics dream and a PR nightmare.

A ripple of uncomfortable silence moved through the room. They all remembered the "Laser Riots." When GDI soldiers discovered the Council had been sitting on blue-laser technology—effectively a more stable, GDI-branded version of the Brotherhood's red lasers—the backlash had been fierce. Front-line troops were furious that they were using expensive railguns while a cheaper alternative existed. The Council had been forced to lie, claiming the technology was "incomplete".

Now, Edward Harvey had made that lie impossible to sustain.

If we mass-produce these and cancel the Predator tank, the manufacturers will have a heart attack. And the Steel Talons? They've refused every piece of tech Harvey has offered. Despite being our experimental division, they won't use his 'cultist toys'. If we force it on them, it'll fracture our leadership.

The Council looked at the screen. They had a madman delivering priceless assets that their current experimental wing refused to touch.

How do we deal with this? We have a trump card we can't play without upsetting our own divisions.

In the corner, a quiet Councilman named Kovacs leaned forward.

I have an idea. It will definitely upset the Steel Talons, but it solves our dilemma.

The Council turned to him.

"We don't force the Steel Talons to change. We leave them to their walkers and heavy plating. Instead, we form a new sub-faction. A second experimental division. Unlike the Steel Talons, who are stuck in their ways, this division will be built around Harvey's versatility—lasers, neural-links, and adaptable tech.

The room hummed with interest. It was a bold move: creating an entirely new branch of GDI to house the "Mad Scientist" and his creations.

It will be more versatile than anything we have. A division that bridges the gap between GDI's power and the efficiency Edward learned in his past. Let Mitchell and his Talons keep their relics. We'll build the future elsewhere.

******

Edward stared at the official GDI commission on his desk, his Wild-Static hair seemingly more erratic than usual. He had been appointed the Supreme Commander of a brand-new experimental division: the X-Enforcers.

The Council's directive was clear: complete freedom. Edward could tinker with neural-links, refine his blue-laser capacitors, and—most shocking of all—conduct direct Tiberium experiments. While GDI's official stance remained Tiberium Abatement, the Council couldn't ignore that Edward, a former Nod acolyte who had decoded the Tacitus better than anyone, might actually find a way to domesticate the crystal.

They basically gave me a sandbox and told me to be better than the 'Steel Talon idiots.

A mischievous grin spreading across his face. He knew exactly what this was: the Council was shoving him into a separate room so they didn't have to explain his "unauthorized" miracles to the public. But a separate room with a blank cheque was exactly what he wanted.

Alright, Corporal, open the recruitment office. Let's see if we can find five or six brave souls willing to have their brains plugged into a walker.

{Looking pale} Sir, you might want to look outside.

Edward walked to the window of his new headquarters and nearly dropped his glowing coffee mug. The line of GDI soldiers stretched across the entire base, winding past the motor pool and out toward the main gates.

There were thousands of them.

What is this? A riot?

No, sir. They're applicants, word got out that the 'Blue Laser Doctor' was forming his own unit. The veterans from the Laser Riots are at the front of the line. They said they'd rather follow a madman who gives them the right tools than a General who hides them.

Edward felt a sudden, massive headache blooming behind his eyes. He had expected to spend his morning adjusting the resonance on a sonic emitter; instead, he was the most popular man in the GDI military. Both feared as a "madman" and respected as a "priceless employee," he had accidentally become a symbol for every soldier tired of the bureaucratic status quo.

High above in the Council chamber, the members watched the satellite feed of the massive crowd.

{A hint of smile on his face} Look at that line. He's going to be busy for months just processing the paperwork.

"Poetic justice, he wanted to bring us miracles without permission? Now he has to lead the people who want to use them. Let's see how he likes being a bureaucrat.

Edward, meanwhile, slumped into his chair.

Corporal... we're going to need a lot more coffee. And possibly more orange paint.

******

Edward slumped into his swivel chair, his head hitting the desk with a dull thud. For thirty days, his life hadn't been about physics or the beautiful, shifting lattice of Tiberium—it had been about signatures, requisition forms, and psych-evaluations.

{Groaning in empty room} If I have to sign one more 'Liability Waiver for Potential Brain-Tingling,' I'm going to defect back to Nod just for the lower paperwork requirements.

The only saving grace was the recruitment pool. While the Steel Talons had kept their high-ranking "knights," the X-Enforcers had drawn the absolute best of the Main Force and ZOCOM's lower ranks. These soldiers were currently out on the training grounds, mastering the neural-links with a speed that proved Edward's "New Variant" interface was as intuitive as breathing.

With the recruits busy training, Edward finally had a chance to rest—or rather, a chance to tinker without interruption. He was a madman, but he wasn't heartless. His past had taught him the price of seeing people as expendable, and he was determined to ensure the X-Enforcers were the best-equipped soldiers in GDI history.

He pulled up the schematics for the standard-issue rifle and got to work. Within hours, he had finalized the GD-2M. By attaching a specialized magnetic capacitor to the frame, he created a superior model that served as a high-velocity, general-purpose powerhouse for his riflemen squads. It had the punch of a railgun in the body of a carbine.

But he didn't stop at firepower. He looked at the heavy, clunky composite armor and the specialized Tiberium field suits and decided they were relics. In their place, he designed the GD Exoskeleton.

It was a radical upgrade created in the X-Enforcer armory—a sleek, motorized frame that boosted a soldier's strength and endurance while providing far superior protection against both ballistic threats and Tiberium radiation. It was lighter, tougher, and meant his soldiers wouldn't just survive the battlefield; they would dominate it.

{Watching the prototype printer hiss as it layered the first GD-2M receiver} Better than the Steel Talon idiots. They think they're tough because they have thick metal plates. My soldiers will be tough because they have the best science GDI—and a little bit of Nod—can buy.

He leaned back, watching the blue light of the armory's fabricators. He was exhausted, but as he saw the new gear taking shape, he knew the X-Enforcers were ready for more than just training.